Kasdarwin, meaning in Tibetan "a dance performed by people wearing armor", was a kind of sacred folk performance which, before the Heshui people of olden times went out for a battle, was conducted for the soldiers to pray for victory and their relatives to pray for their safe return. Meanwhile, as one of valuable relics of China's primitive dances, it fully embodies the perfect fusion of ancient Chiang and Tubo Culture.

Chimoling: Hometown of Kasdarwin

It took just more than one hour by motor vehicle to get to Chimoling Township from Heshui County, the seat of the Sichuan Aba Chang Autonomous Prefecture, passing through colorful woods along the way. Mr. Yang Qi, an official of Culture and Sport Bureau of Heshui County who accompanied me, said that being in Chimoling we were in the hometown of "Kasdarwin".

It was a winter when I was there, so I missed the best time to see the forest colors at their peak in mid-autumn. At the time I was there, we could see some apple trees, though without any leaves already, with some apples still hanging on the branches giving out an eye-dazzling glitter under the morning sun.

Through the birch woods with leafless trees I saw the old Tibetan stockade village and a grinding mill sitting on the riverbank, and cattle and sheep grazing contentedly. When driving to the turn of the river valley, the tremendous shadow of the opposite mountains covered us creating a chill. Looking upward, the tops of the snow-capped mountains were outlined with golden lines by the sun.


Although it was in winter, I thought, such a scene was so elegant and wonderful that it made one feel comfortable and happy.

On the way, Yang Qi pointed constantly to the beautiful natural scenery and regaled us with legendary stories. Heshui, with an average elevation of around 3,500 meters, accommodates a number of high mountains and deep river valleys, between which the land falls from one to two thousand meters. The snow and ice peaks, karst stone forests, alpine lakes, vertically-distributed colorful woods and dense forests form together the primitive vastness and wonderful glory of the landscape of Heshui. "Since
Heshui is located among the snowy mountains, Kasdarwin still has the features left from the primitive times of hunting. In this case, the American anthropologist Ms Gordon exclaimed, after watching a performance, that this aboriginal dance with music being performed unchanged was extremely valuable study material.

Ancient Worship Ceremonial

When we arrived at Weidog Village of Chimoling Township, Yan Muxue, secretary of the Village Committee, handed me a bowl of wine he himself made with qingke barley and corn and, while we were sitting beside the fireplace on the second floor of his warm house awaiting the dance performance, he told his wife Zewangchu to bake qingke barley and corn flour pies for us while he himself was boiling beef at the fireplace.

I asked: "Shall we watch the dancing first?" He smiled frankly, "My mother has already called her partners. I guess they are busy with making up."

Yan's mother Remomai, 67, said, "The people have continued to perform this dance since ancient times. It is performed for the celebration of New Year, for those who have happy events like marriage or for funeral ceremonies, during the slack seasons, and for guests who come from afar. In the past, if there were eight persons exceeding 100 years old in the village, villagers would wear Kasda armor and dance for them for three days and nights."

Yang Qi said thoughtfully, "The dialect of the lyrics of Kasdarwin contain not only ancient Tibetan languages of such as Ngari, but also a number of components of the ancient Chiang language. Heshui was a pasturing and hunting place under control of the ancient Chiang tribe. After Tubo conquered the eastern territories during the Tang Dynasty, Heshui became gradually a place inhabited by Tibetan people. We may infer that Kasdarwin was probably the worship ceremonial of the ancient Chiang tribe. Prior to the Tang Dynasty, the place suffered from frequent battles and Kasdarwin then evolved into a worship activity for soldiers setting out to fight. Now, it is a ceremony for festivals and various events in the social life of local people, or a means of entertainment in leisure times.

Multiple Contents of Talking and Singing

The dancers invited by the old woman arrived by motorcycles and a walking tractor. They were all dressed beautifully. Fulian, 75, and Nyima, 68, as the leading dancers of today, both have a knife more than a foot long tied to the waist. However, I didn't see the kind of Kasda armor I had expected. Nyima explained that, in the past, when Kasdarwin was performed, they did wear old armor handed from their ancestors over many generations. "Those were 'Kasda' that were formed with thousands of small pieces of bull skin overlapped and stitched together. Besides auspicious scriptures printed on the pieces, there were also nine bells arranged in three rows around the armor". "But now the 'Kasda' of each household have either become ruined due to lack of repair or sold to cultural relic dealers. Even if a family has one, they are reluctant to show it." In fact, there are only three Kasda remaining in Heshui and "they are really rare cultural relics".


There was nice sunshine outdoors. After Yan and his son carried a big jar of newly-brewed wine to the center of a field, the dance, which was totally alien to me, was started formally after a round of drinking by all. It was actually a kind of circle dance, which, different from the circle dance known as Gorzhuang, was led by sainted old men who were waving knives in their hands and then followed by all men and women of the village, young or old, dancing to the beat. The men sang in s harsh and high voice and the women in sweet and agreeable tones. As the men with weapons were tramping rapidly, the women holding each other by the arms were quivering their knees and swaying their hips.

I didn't understand what they chanted or sang. Yang Qi told me that this kind of dance was primarily used to show their hospitality towards guests, besides which there were also dances, such as Kasda Bari, to see-off soldiers to battle, Mazumalha expressing prayers for auspiciousness and good luck, Nyima, showing a surrounding scenario, Shami presenting the falling-in of love, and other performances showing the heroic scenes battlefields as well as those expressing the offering of sacrifices to dead heroes and prestigious old people.

Kasdarwin Will Have Its Future

The drinking of wine went on round after round, the dancers acted more heroically, the singing voice went higher and higher, and the tramping steps became more frenetic. They sometimes raised their arms and sometimes shook their shoulders. The combination of singing with dance brought you a shocking power as music notes flew naturally "like a chorus without accompaniment".

As a guest coming from a place far away, I was naturally treated specially. Bowls of wine were handed to me one after another, which, under the influence of the dances' aboriginal nature I enjoyed and swallowed willingly. At first it was tasteful if a little bitter. But later it became a flame dancing inside my body.

Bewitched by the fierce passion evoked by the alcohol, I joined the dancers. When I tried to get a young onlooker to join us, he told me he couldn't do it, a move which made me a bit regretful.


Yang Qi said that, due to the changes of the social basis on which Kasdarwin relied for its continued existence and development, there were only ten or more folk artists, all above 70 years of age, who could recall and perform the aboriginal songs and dances.

"Is this to suggest that Kasdarwin is in an endangered environment to disappear?"

However, my regret and anxiety may be unnecessary because Kasdarwin was listed, as early as in 2004, by the PRC Ministry of Culture as one of the folk cultures subject to the experimental protection program of 29 nationalities in the second group. It is believed that, under the concern from all sections of the country, the ancient aboriginal dance will continue to enthrall.

China's Tibet
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY YU MAOZHI